Kokosing Gap Trail

 August 01, 2025

This post is the first in a series about bike trails in Central Ohio

In August, 2025 my father-in-law and I biked the Kokosing Gap Trail from Mount Vernon, Ohio to Danville, Ohio and back.

The full trip is 26.39 miles with an elevation gain of 182 ft. This is an Out-and-Back trail. Parking is located in Mt. Vernon near the intersection of Mt Vernon Ave Ext and Lower Gambier Road: https://maps.app.goo.gl/VhzWiJDJiDw4hYf19?g_st=ic Map of the Kokosing Gap trail with Mt. Vernon, Howard, and Danville, Ohio labeled Graph of elevation changes on the Kokosing Gap trail

Restaurants nearby:

  • Flappers Bar & Grille
  • Southside Diner
  • The Alcove Restaurant & Lounge

Rating The Ride

Smoothness

6 / 10 Nice tree cover, but that also means roots! I remember this as a slightly-rough ride.

Scenery

8 / 10 Some really nice portions in which the trail follows the river. About 70% of the ride was in the shade. Lots of birds singing.

Seclusion

7 / 10 Not too crowded. Only 4 or 5 road crossings.

Final score 7 / 10


Adding Background Music to Puzzlescript Games

 October 28, 2022

Screen shot from the video game 'Return of the Dead Pixels' showing zombies

Step 1: Make a Puzzlescript game and export it as HTML.

Step 2: Add a toggle switch (a checkbox) inside of the HTML body. Preferably right after the opening <body> tag.

<label for="musicToggle"><input type="checkbox" id="musicToggle" name="musicToggle" onclick="playBgMusic()" checked>🎵</label>

Step 3: Add the audio component and the Javascript code. Preferably right before the closing </body> tag. Change YOUR-FILE-NAME-HERE.mp3 to the name of your music file.

<audio id="audio" controls style="display:none">
  <source src="YOUR-FILE-NAME-HERE.mp3" type="audio/mpeg"> Your browser does not support the audio element.
</audio>
<script>
  function playBgMusic(){
    if(document.getElementById("musicToggle").checked){
      document.getElementById('audio').play();
    }else{
      document.getElementById('audio').pause();
    }
  }
  document.addEventListener('keyup', playBgMusic);  
  document.addEventListener("click", playBgMusic);
</script>

Step 4: THAT’S IT!

Check it out by playing Return Of The Dead Pixels, my Puzzlescript zombie game:

https://ohiofi.itch.io/return-of-the-dead-pixels

Screen shot from the video game 'Return of the Dead Pixels' showing player surrounded by zombies


Baby Zombie Chicken Jockey Java Minecraft Mod

 June 24, 2022

You can spawn a random amount of chicken jockeys with the third Minecraft mod from “Absolute Beginner’s Guide To Minecraft Mods Programming, second edition” by Rogers Cadenhead.

Demo of the /zombiepig command

Challenges

1. Can you create a “/zombiepig” command that generates pig-riding zombie-pigmen?

In the onCommand method add an if-else statement for if (label.equalsIgnoreCase("zombiepig")) then call a new method named executeZombiePigCommand(sender). You can copy/paste the executeCommand method and just change the title to executeZombiePigCommand. Next, update the line that says Chicken clucky = world.spawn(chickenSpot, Chicken.class); so that it will spawn an instance of the Pig class and save it a variable type Pig (you can still use the variable name clucky if you want). Finally, update the line that says Zombie rob = world.spawn(chickenSpot, Zombie.class); so that it spawns an instance of the PigZombie class and saves it in a variable type PigZombie.

2. Can you create a “/villagersheep” command that generates random-color sheep with villager jockeys?

In the onCommand method add an if-else statement for if (label.equalsIgnoreCase("villagersheep")) then call a new method named executeVillagerSheepCommand(sender). You can copy/paste the executeCommand method and just change the title to executeVillagerSheepCommand. First, make it spawn an instance of the Sheep class and save it a variable type Sheep (you can still use the variable name clucky if you want). Next, make it spawn an instance of the Villager class and saves it in a variable type Villager. Look at the Spigot API for the Villager class and find the setBaby method. Notice that unlike the setBaby method for the Zombie class, this method does NOT require any arguments. Finally, look at the Spigot API for the Sheep class and the DyeColor class in order to create an array of type DyeColor that contains several colors, randomly select a DyeColor from the list, and set the sheep’s wool color.

3. Can you generate a “normal distribution” of chicken jockeys?

A normal distribution (also known as a bell curve) will expect that median values are more likely and extreme values are less likely. Consider rolling two dice. You have about a 44% change of rolling a 6, 7, or 8, but you only have about a 3% chance of rolling a 12. We would simulate rolling two dice in Java like this (int) (Math.random() * 6 + 1) + (int) (Math.random() * 6 + 1) and we would get a bell curve of values ranging from 2 to 12. How can you change that code to generate a bell curve of values ranging from 8 to 16?

Demo of the /villagersheep command

ZombieChicken Starter Code

Source: https://javaminecraft.com/source/ZombieChicken/ZombieChicken.java

package com.javaminecraft;

import java.util.logging.Logger;
import org.bukkit.Location;
import org.bukkit.World;
import org.bukkit.command.Command;
import org.bukkit.command.CommandSender;
import org.bukkit.entity.Chicken;
import org.bukkit.entity.Player;
import org.bukkit.entity.Zombie;
import org.bukkit.plugin.java.JavaPlugin;
import org.bukkit.potion.PotionEffect;
import org.bukkit.potion.PotionEffectType;

public class ZombieChicken extends JavaPlugin {
    public static final Logger LOG = Logger.getLogger("Minecraft");

    @Override
    public boolean onCommand(CommandSender sender, Command command,
        String label, String[] arguments) {

        if (label.equalsIgnoreCase("zombiechicken")) {
            if (sender instanceof Player) {
                executeCommand(sender);
                return true;
            }            
        }
        return false;
    }

    public void executeCommand(CommandSender sender) {
        Player me = (Player) sender;
        Location spot = me.getLocation();
        World world = me.getWorld();

        // spawn 1-10 chicken-riding zombies
        int quantity = (int) (Math.random() * 10) + 1;
        for (int i = 0; i < quantity; i++) {
            // set chicken and zombie location
            Location chickenSpot = new Location(world,
                spot.getX() + (Math.random() * 15),
                spot.getY() + 5,
                spot.getZ() + (Math.random() * 15));
            // create the mobs
            Chicken clucky = world.spawn(chickenSpot, Chicken.class);
            Zombie rob = world.spawn(chickenSpot, Zombie.class);
            rob.setBaby(true);
            clucky.setPassenger(rob);
            // increase the chicken's speed
            int speed = (int) (Math.random() * 10);
            PotionEffect potion = new PotionEffect(
                PotionEffectType.SPEED,
                Integer.MAX_VALUE,
                speed);
            clucky.addPotionEffect(potion);
        }
        LOG.info("[ZombieChicken] Created " + quantity + " chicken-riding zombies");
    }
}



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